This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1937. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.

Why Historical Insurance Policies May Be Accessible

Pre-1986 Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies were occurrence-based and did not contain an effective pollution exclusion in Washington. If contamination occurred while those policies were active, those historical insurance carriers may still have a legal obligation to fund the cleanup costs, even if the business closed or the property changed hands.

Petroleum contamination at this site originated from underground storage tanks that served a gasoline station operating since 1937 — nearly five decades before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion. The scale of remediation here — free-product recovery, groundwater extraction and treatment, and decades of monitoring since the early 1990s — represents substantial documented expenditures tied directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during that operational window may be obligated both to recover past cleanup costs and to fund the remediation work that remains ahead.

Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful coverage claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage. Restorical then manages the claim, including accounting, to ensure the cleanup is funded in a timely manner.